1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for processing data. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer instructions for reducing power consumption in a logical partitioned data processing system.
2. Description of Related Art
Data processing systems are becoming increasingly powerful with the amount of processing power that is provided to users. One increase in processing power comes from the use of faster processors. Another increase in processing power is provided through data processing systems that have multiple processors.
In these types of systems, multiple processors are used to perform different tasks. In handling multiple tasks, processing time for the threads for the different tasks may be divided for the processors. In a symmetric multiprocessing system (SMP), multiple processes can run on any available processor and the threads of a single process can run on different processors at the same time. All of the processors may be automatically used to run any of the threads present in the system. Further, threads may be executed in parallel by the different processors. As a result, a multithreaded application may run multiple threads simultaneously such that more tasks are completed in less time.
As the number of processors increase and the speed of these types of multiprocessor data processing systems increase, power consumption and heat generation become more prevalent problems. For example, the amount of heat generated by the processor increases as the clock frequency used by the processor increases. The amount of heat also goes up as more processors are added or included in a multiprocessor data processing system.
In addressing these problems, cooling systems and reducing the frequency at which the processors operate are techniques currently used. Cooling systems are often expensive and subject to failure. These types of systems only address thermal issues and do not address the issue of power consumption. Reducing the frequency of clock cycles for the processors in a data processing system requires exposure of specific interfaces to the operating system, which implies that the power reduction method is not transparent and can not be applied without operating system modifications.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for reducing power consumption in a data processing system.